Son needs out of phone contract

poundsaver

Looking for other people's experience/views/help on this one.
My 18 year old son upgraded his phone contract (originally taken out when he was 17) with Three. This included a new iPhone 4 on contract at £35 per month + an additional £9 p.m. because he effectively terminated his first contract.

Six months or so in he now realises he just can't afford it. Three won't let him out of the contract without paying hefty exit charges. They have said they will reduce down to £35 for the remainder of the contract but nothing is ever explained in writing.

Even with this reduction, my son is wanting out. What are his options?

brettcta

his options are:

get a job
if he has a job: get more hours or a 2nd job.
see if Three will allow him to transfer the contract to someone else (if you can find anyone silly enough to take on what i'm assuming is a heft contract)
learn to budget accordingly and not sign up for phone contracts that he can't afford. this is less of an option and more of a lesson.

how long is the contract?

your son has signed the contract and agreed to pay £44 per month. this is, as i'm sure you're aware, a legally binding contract which must be honoured. if the thought of just cancelling the direct debit has entered into your mindset, get rid of it quicksmart. (i say this because it seems to be a fairly regular theme on these forums when people are asking for help).

brettcta

also, the fact that he signed the original contract when he was 17 is irrelevant. when you upgrade you are signing and agreeing to a new contract, which was signed when he was 18

bap98189

There's not a lot he can do if he took out the contract 6 months ago. If he really can't afford it, sell the iPhone on Ebay and use the money to pay off the remainder of the contract. They are going for upwards of £350 at the moment which should go some way towards paying it off. If you are worried about being ripped off, the phone recycling places will give £280 for it, or he could sell it to a local shop.

If he keeps the SIM and buys a cheap, second hand phone he'll be able to make use of the calls/texts which are no doubt included with the contract.

brettcta

bap98189 wrote: »

There's not a lot he can do if he took out the contract 6 months ago. If he really can't afford it, sell the iPhone on Ebay and use the money to pay off the remainder of the contract. They are going for upwards of £350 at the moment which should go some way towards paying it off. If you are worried about being ripped off, the phone recycling places will give £280 for it, or he could sell it to a local shop.

If he keeps the SIM and buys a cheap, second hand phone he'll be able to make use of the calls/texts which are no doubt included with the contract.

if you take this option, you'll need to get a full size sim as the iphone 4 uses a micro sim

InsideInsurance

The mobile shops give away free convertors so you can put a micro sim into a normal phone - or at least the O2 ones do as someone came in and asked for them and they gave him a couple without checking he was an O2 customer etc

brettcta

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The mobile shops give away free convertors so you can put a micro sim into a normal phone - or at least the O2 ones do as someone came in and asked for them and they gave him a couple without checking he was an O2 customer etc

even better. good shout

fluffnutter

Some great advice so far. And how about a PAYG next time? If he's struggling with this one, he's not ready for contracts yet. The last thing he wants is to start trashing his credit rating at 18 by defaulting on a mobile phone contract.

pinkshoes

Legally, there is nothing he can do, as he's an adult, and agreed to the contract.

Best thing to do is sell the phone, get a job to pay the extra, and put it down to experience and learn to live within his means in the future!!

arcon5

Or a monthly rolling contract in future would be suitable. You can get some reason sim-only deals for about a tenner a month.

His best bet as mentioned would be to sell the iPhone without the sim, use the money to buy a cheap second hand phone and use the rest of the money to pay his bill until the contract comes to an end.